The Junior’s second Surrey League Cross Country match of the season saw contrasting conditions at Nonsuch Park, where the Girls had to contend with wet and miserable weather, and Mitcham Common, where the Boys were at least spared the rain, if not the mud.

FreyaChaiylaTabithaAnnabel

The Girls were represented in the U13 race by Freya and Tabitha Nott (always good to watch a bit of sibling rivalry), Carla Ravich Calafell, Chaiyla Norville-Whyms and Annabel Mace, with our A team placing 15th and our B team placing 28th.
In the U15 Girls Juliette Michot and Freya Marney represented the Bels to place 12th team.

CarlaBlaine (and hat)

Over at Mitcham Common we had a similar number of athletes battling the hills, with Timin Kanani our first runner home in 11th slot, and 8th U17. Not far behind were Blaine Robinson (placing 2nd in U13 category) and Caspar Griffin, with only 1 second separating the two of them on the line (a feat repeated by Blaine a week later when he won the U13 Boys race by 1 second at the London Borough’s Youth Games X/C Championships at Parliament Hill).

Julius

The ever present Joseph O’Clery was our next runner home, followed by Julius Bennett and Zayd Addicott. Our U13 Boys team placed a credible 10th (we will do better at the next race with a bigger turnout, 3rd place is an achievable target) and our U15/17 team placed an excellent 5th.

The Usual Suspects

Meanwhile, Petr Kuska chose the farthest point on the course in his first ever cross country race to turn his ankle (to be precise, 2k from the finish line). He seemed okay whilst he was being carried back, smiling at the sympathetic comments from spectators, although his Coach was a little the worse for wear afterwards.